Jonathan Mahler, Columnist

Soccer Is Just Another Word For Slavery in Qatar

A 33-year-old French soccer player, Zahir Belounis, has beenÂ trying to escapeÂ from Doha for more than a year but canât overcome the countryâs repressive labor laws.

November 15, 2013 at 5:00 PM UTC

By Jonathan Mahler

Jonathan Mahler is a sports columnist for Bloomberg View. He is the author of the best-selling "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning," the basis for the eight-part ESPN mini-series. He also wrote "The Challenge," the winner of the 2009 Scribes Book Award, and "Death Comes to Happy Valley." A longtime contributor to the New York Times Magazine and the Times Book Review, Mahler has written for numerous other publications including the Washington Post, Slate, the New Republic and New York magazine. He lives in New York.

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It turns out that migrant laborers aren't the only ones trapped in Qatar as the country frantically prepares to host a World Cup it never should have been awarded in the first place.

A 33-year-old French soccer player, Zahir Belounis, has been trying to escape from Doha for more than a year but can't overcome the country's repressive labor laws. When you take a job in Qatar, you effectively surrender your passport to your employer. It's called the kafala system, and if it sounds like modern-day slavery, it is. Whether you're a Nepalese construction worker, a Filipino nanny or a professional French soccer player, you're stuck until your "sponsor" releases you.